Sweat
by pilose
Summary: In which the cause of Natsu's sweat is revealed. One-shot. NaLu.


Okay so this is my first fic so it might be weird. In actuality I'm not sure if the whole premise works because I'm watching the dub and waiting...And the end is subtle so... whatever. I don't really care at this point, I just put T cause I wasn't sure. Oh yeah are we supposed to say we don't own the characters? Well I don't own the characters.

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Whenever Lucy thought about Natsu's hands she imagined them as hot and sweaty. In her mind she had some impression that a boy with an intravenous heat source like him would be of the clammy type, almost feverish, like a sticky summer day or a steamy jungle reaching the height of oppressive humidity.

Because of whatever had caused this faulty connection it was continually surprising to her that in every miniscule pinch, pat, pull, and playful grab of her arm by the dragon slayer only a brief dry warmth was produced. She wondered if perhaps he was so good at maintaining his internal temperature that he never had the need to sweat. Or maybe in reality his heat was less like moist tropics and more of a desert at the peak of midday. But then wouldn't he burn whoever he touches?

This line of thought made her curious, she kept wondering, she kept questioning; was all of Natsu this warm dryness? Did any of him have that startling hotness like the white flames of fire or the kind of slickness on skin from inferno temperatures?

Lucy often thought about these sorts of things when it was deliriously hot during Magnolia's dog days. She was thinking about it now as she slumped against Fairy Tail's bar, the condensation quickly peeling itself from her glass of once-cold lemonade, and staring with a disgruntled frown at the thick scarf wound around the fool's neck while he continued to challenge Gray as if it wasn't over a hundred degrees outside. It was as though simply seeing the fluffy article in the wrong season made her feel ten times hotter.

He must be sweaty now, she thought, hell even the back of my knees are sweating and I haven't moved for an hour now. In fact he must be so sweaty and boiling hot that he smells like old socks or a wet Happy or…or something smelly, you get the picture.

She held the glass against her forehead in a desperate attempt to absorb enough coolness to drive away the headache that was developing. She could feel Mira looking at her but she was too busy to try to explain herself, she could feel her brain cells being fried alive minute by minute.

"Hey Luce!" an incessantly familiar voice bounded up to her, "What're you trying to do with that glass there?"

Lucy frowned, extricating herself from the disappearing icy spot and turning to look at Natsu. He showered her with his most endearing grin as he slid into the stool next to her.

"Its hot out, this is cold, obviously it feels good."

"Really?" he said leaning in to peer at the lemonade as though the concept had never occurred to him. He grabbed her wrist and lifted the hand holding the glass to make her press it against his own face.

For a moment Lucy just looked at him grumpily, he was stealing her one source of relief and using her own hand as his accomplice. Then she realized how close he was to her.

She froze but then she hadn't really been moving in the first place. The only sign something was going through her mind was the sudden blush that spread over her cheeks. But then, it could have just been the heat making her flush. She inhaled carefully to calm herself only to be struck again by something else.

Lucy Heartfilia had just determined crankily moments before that Natsu, her crazy pink-haired teammate, must definitely smell bad and now, here he was inches from her nose, solid proof that he most definitely did not.

She sniffed again inconspicuously but it was utterly undeniable, the dragon slayer smelled great. Not like frosted flakes great or strange absence of mannish body odor great, it was actually like bonfires at night out in the woods great or lying on heated up beach sand great. It was one of those scents that when one gets it in their nose they try to keep it there, emblazon it on their memory because they don't know when they'll smell something so great ever again in their lives. Lucy couldn't believe she hadn't noticed before. What had her nose even been doing all this time, hanging out on her face?

"You're weird Luce," Natsu released her arm and sat back down, "that didn't feel as good as you made me think it would."

"That's because it's _hot_ and all the ice melted."

"I know it's such a drag isn't it, I can't believe the guild's air conditioning always goes out in the middle of summer." He poked one elbow onto the bar and examined her.

"Like you care," Lucy grumbled, "the heat never seems to get to you at all, I'm not sure you even actually sweat."

"What? Of course I sweat." Nastu said. Lucy blinked trying to decide if his claim put him back into human territory versus cold-blooded dragon mutant.

"You don't look like you're damp at all and you've been fighting Gray all morning in this oppressive weather." She stayed skeptical. He raised an eyebrow at her comically in return.

"Why would I be sweating because of that?" he asked innocently, "It's hot and all but that's hardly a reason to get all sweaty, Luce."

"What ever-living planet are you from Natsu?!" she cried hitting herself in the head with her fist. He was so totally the dragon mutant thing.

"I'm from here Lucy, you know that weirdo. Why, are you from somewhere else?" he leaned in dangerously close, "How could you not tell me after all this time?"

"No, Natsu of course I'm from this planet." she rolled her eyes and then thought of something. "Wait, if you don't sweat because it's hot out then what do you sweat for?"

Natsu spun on his seat and leaned back away like he caught a whiff of something nasty with that high-powered nose of his. He looked out into the guild facing away from her, his body perched on the very edge of the bar stool, for all the world looking like he was ready to spring away.

"Ehh, it's nothing important."  
"What?" It was her turn to get up in his space. She eyed his dry bare arm with determination. "Why so shy all of a sudden? It can't be that big a deal right Natsu? You can tell me even if it's embarrassing, I swear I won't laugh."

"It's not embarrassing or anything really, it's just not important," he said quickly. "Hey why don't I get back to you later, that ice-freak is over there just asking for it."

"Oh no you don't." Lucy said grabbing onto his shoulder with her death grip just as he was about to stand; she was going to find answers even if she had to become Edolas Lucy to make it happen. "I have been waiting all freakin' summer to learn if you sweat or not and now that I'm so close you're not just going to prance off without telling me everything." Natsu looked at her wide-eyed.

"Gosh Lucy, I had no idea that you were that interested in my awesomeness," he paused and changed tactics suddenly, "Are you sure the heat hasn't gotten to your head?"

"Shut up Natsu! It very well might have but that's not gonna stop me now. Spill it."

"Spill what? Are you asking me to spill your lemonade Lucy? But you were so happy with it just a minute ago."

"No, you dimwit, tell me when it is you sweat. I need to know."

Natsu stared at her livid face, probably having flashbacks to Scary Lucy putting him in a headlock, before sighing in defeat.

"I don't understand why you want to know so bad, Luce. It's really not something I wanna talk about."

"What's the big problem, Natsu? It's just sweat right? I mean I'm your teammate, of course I'm curious about those odd dragon slayer quirks you have."

"Really Luce?" he looked down at her clutching at his arm and softened considerably.

"No joke Natsu, we're in this together aren't we? I care about you." She mushed herself a tad bit closer, pressing her body into his arm as though her womanly wiles would finally work their way into that dense slayer head of his. And I need to know so spill it, she thought.

"Well…I guess," he said quietly.

"So…?" Lucy drawled the word with finesse, bouncing lightly with anticipation.

"Umm." He paused and Lucy started to worry he was planning another escape until he started again hesitantly. "I mean…I'm actually really sweaty right now."

"What?" Lucy slid from her seat and put her ear down to his face.

"I said I'm actually really sweaty right now, Luce."

"But why would you-" she froze for a second time in the infernal hot heat of that summer day. She became extremely conscious of her position pressed against his body.

She felt the sweat bead and drip down along her lower back. She stared into the solidly muscled neck above the scarf of her pink-haired friend and saw little pinpricks of moisture gathering along his skin. She took a deep breath in of his woody scent turning slightly salty but by no means disappearing. And then she blushed brick red, far more than a flush, far more than any heat or wind chapping or makeup or scrubbing or crying or just about anything else could have possibly caused.

Natsu turned his head a little to the side so that his nose was inches from her own.

"What a quirk right?" He smirked fatally.

Lucy fainted.


End file.
